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COURSE, CURRICULUM, AND LABORATORY IMPROVEMENT

Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement

Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Division: Undergraduate Education

Deadline: The deadline has now passed. Phase 1 projects were due in May of 2008 and 2009.  Phase 2 and 3 projects were due January 13, 2010.

Description: The Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program seeks to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all undergraduate students. The program supports efforts to create new learning materials and teaching strategies, develop faculty expertise, implement educational innovations, assess learning and evaluate innovations, and conduct research on STEM teaching and learning. The program supports three types of projects representing three different phases of development, ranging from small, exploratory investigations to large, comprehensive projects.

All proposals must contribute to the development of exemplary undergraduate STEM education.

  • Creating Learning Materials and Teaching Strategies
    Guided by research on teaching and learning, by evaluations of previous efforts, and by advances within the disciplines, projects should develop new learning materials and tools, or create new and innovative teaching methods and strategies. Projects may also revise or enhance existing educational materials and teaching strategies, based on prior results. All projects should lead to exemplary models that address the varied needs of the Nation's diverse undergraduate student population. They may include activities that help faculty develop expertise in adapting these innovations and incorporating them effectively into their courses, the next step in the cycle.
     
  • Developing Faculty Expertise
    Using new learning materials and teaching strategies often requires faculty to acquire new knowledge and skills and to revise their curricula and teaching practices. Projects should design and implement methods that enable faculty to gain such expertise. These can range from short-term workshops to sustained activities that foster new communities or networks of practicing educators. Successful projects should provide professional development for a diverse group of faculty so that new materials and teaching strategies can be widely implemented.
     
  • Implementing Educational Innovations
    To ensure their broad based adoption, successful educational innovations (such as learning materials, teaching strategies, faculty development materials, assessment and evaluation tools) and the research relating to them should be widely disseminated. These innovations may come from CCLI projects or from other sources in the STEM community. Funds may be requested for local adaptation and implementation projects, including instrumentation to support such projects. Results from implementation projects should illuminate the challenges to and opportunities for adapting innovations in diverse educational settings, and may provide a foundation for the development of new tools and processes for dissemination. They also may provide a foundation for assessments of learning and teaching.
     
  • Assessing Learning and Evaluating Innovations
  • Conducting Research on Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning

Although projects may vary considerably in the number of components they address, in the number of academic institutions involved, in the number of faculty and students that participate, and in their stage of development, all promising projects should share certain characteristics:

  • Quality, Relevance, and Impact
  • Student Focus
  • Use of and Contribution to Knowledge about STEM Education
  • STEM Education Community-Building
  • Expected Measurable Outcomes
  • Project Evaluation

Phase 2 Projects
Phase 2 projects build on smaller-scale successful innovations or implementations, such as those produced by Phase 1 projects, and refine and test these on diverse users in several settings. In terms of scope, their focus ordinarily includes two or more components of the cyclic model with the connections between components explicitly addressed. Phase 2 projects carry the development to a state where the results are conclusive so that successful products and processes can be distributed widely or commercialized when appropriate. At a minimum, the innovation, if successful, should be institutionalized at the participating colleges and universities.

Phase 3 Projects
Phase 3 projects combine established results and mature products from several components of the cyclic model. These projects should include an explicit discussion of the results and evidence produced by the work on which the proposed project is based. Such projects include a diversity of academic institutions and student populations. Evaluation activities are deep and broad, demonstrating the impact of the project’s innovations on many students and faculty at a wide range of academic institutions. Dissemination and outreach activities that have national impact are an especially important element of Phase 3 projects, as are the opportunities for faculty to learn how to best adapt project innovations to the needs of their students and academic institutions.

Although it is expected that some Phase 1 projects will lead to Phase 2 projects and some Phase 2 projects to Phase 3 projects, there is no requirement that a proposal be based on CCLI-funded work; however the antecedent(s) for all projects should be cited and discussed.

Fit for Public Broadcasting: Stations involved in curriculum development in the sciences may find a fit in this program. Funds may be used to develop and disseminate exemplary content, professional development courses, and assessment materials.

Eligibility: Let your higher education partner take the lead on this. Proposed projects may involve collaboration with business and industrial partners, or collaboration among several organizations.

How to apply: Proposers may submit proposals via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. All collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must be submitted via the NSF FastLane system. View the program's webpage for more application information.

Anticipated funding:  In the last round, in FY2009, the program distributed approximately $35 million.

Program website: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5741